Monday, March 10, 2008

As requested, this download contains instructions, Tranzcode and BeSpilt as well as the VLC player to play and convert DTSwav files. Instructions on how to burn the files to an Audio CD-R are also included.

Aerial Ballet has been widely available in stereo only. The first mono pressing of the album contained 'Daddy's song'.

The Monkees of course released the single 'Daddy's Song' at the same time and RCA, realizing that this would interfere with the promotion of their single, replaced the mono pressing with a new one, omitting 'Daddy's song'.

This original needle-drop of the first pressing includes 'Daddy's Song'.

A rare find and many thanks to one of Harry's anonymous friends who led us to it.

Number two of the Quadraphonic Surround Sound albums that RCA released. Admittedly, Sandman is widely seen as Harry's weakest album but yet it contains some real gems that I personally like because they show Harry's humor, such as 'How to write a song', 'The Flying Saucer' and 'J**** C*****, you're tall'.

Yes, with a lot of help fromOne-Eared-Jackwe should be able to post the Quad mixes of Harry's albums very soon.

To start off though, here is a sample of Driving Along taken from the quadrophonic CD. A few words about the Quad mixes. Apologies to those who know what they are, but for those who don't a, hopefully, simple explanation.

The Quad mixes consist of 4 mono channels that create a surround sound (stereo consists of 2 channels) The Quad comes in a format called DTS (Digital Theater System) and will only play in a DVD player that is capable of playing DTS and you will also need a home theater system to enjoy the full surround sound. Saying that, if the DVD player is hooked up to a normal stereo TV you will be able to play and hear the left and right channel (and these usually contain the the majority of the music and vocals).

To play them on PC you need to have DTS capable software (like the free VLAN player) and a surround sound card. Again, if you don't have the surround sound card you will still be able to hear the left and right channel (but you will still need the software - iTunes, Media Player etc will NOT play them and all you get is noise!)

For those you have none of these, the zip file of Driving Along has 3 channels in a wave file that will play with any player.

To burn DTS files, use your CD burning software (such as Nero) and make sure you are creating an AUDIO CD - if you burn them as DATA, they will NOT play.

Well, if you have any comments or questions, please feel free to post them (and yes, the image is that of the 8 track cartridge, not the CD)

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

In 2001, as his band, Harvey Danger, broke up, Sean Nelson became deeply enamored of "Nilsson Sings Newman," and considered that "Nelson Sings Nilsson" would be a funny title for a record.

In 2002, Nelson went deep into Nilssoniana, immersing himself in the two-disc import reissues of the early records "Pandemonium Shadow Show" and "Aerial Ballet" (not to mention "Aerial Pandemonium Ballet") in particular, and "Harry," "Nilsson Schmilsson," and "Pussy Cats," as well. He now thought that "Nelson Sings Nilsson" was not only a funny idea for a record title, but a brilliant idea that would constitute his first solo album.

As far as I know the album has not yet been released as Sean has not found a record label but here are 3 of his songs in a demo version

This live recording of Without You was apparently recorded in Las Vegas. According to the recent article in the MoJo mag, this recording was done during a surprise performance by Harry during a Ringo and His All-Star Band performance, which would put this performance to either the 4th,5th or 6th September 1992.

If you have just downloaded the interviews from for the love of then you will have noticed the Mucho Mungo demo recorded by John Lennon. Here I've included two recordings by Harry and John. Both recordings are from the same take. As both recordings are mono but one features the vocals far more clearly whilst the second has much louder instruments it may well be that they are the left and right channel of the stereo tape.

The first recording of Mucho Mucho finishes after the song whilst the second recording continues for another minute with a run-through of Harry singing Mucho Mungo/Mt Elga. Whilst the quality is not brilliant, it is passable and so far the only session recording with Harry and John.

Monday, February 11, 2008

In 1974 the German singer Mary Roos covered Harry's Daybreak. It is a tradition in Germany to take current hits from both Britain and USA (usually with the help of German lyrics - more often than not totally unrelated to the original lyrics) to propel themselves into the charts. Whilst Elvis, The Beatles and Cliff Richard released German versions of their own songs, the lyrics here were penned by Michael Kunze. Hamburg im Regen (CBS 2616) is about Hamburg (one of Germany's largest cities- and my home town) in the rain - a love song as far removed from Harry's Count Dracula as possible, musically however it is remarkably close to the original. Mary Roos re-recorded the song in 2000 for a compilation album.

The Family is a demo recorded by Harry.Our friend Steve explains it's origin:

This recording comes from aHarryFest a few years back whenCurtis Armstrong played a selectionof studio recordings he had gainedaccess to. Unknown to Curtis, andcertainly against his wishes,someonein the room had a video camcorderand was recording the entire playback,which not long after was releasedprivately,and eventually publicly.The audience you hear on this trackare people at the HarryFest squeakingin their chairs, chatting, drinkingtea, etc.

Welcome Sons (and daughters) of Schmilsson

In the Centre-Ring presenting NILSSON

The first time I heard Harry was on the title theme from 'The Courtship of Eddie's Father'. I loved the song, loved the voice but didn't find out until the mid-seventies who Harry was. Since then I have been collecting his music hunting down the many hard to find vinyls. I never get get tired of listening to his superb songwriting, his amazing voice and his tongue-in-cheek humor.

If you find your way here, feel free to add a comment or if you have anything to share with Harry's friends contact me.